Jessica Fearnley is a CEAT Emerging Leader, and received a scholarship to attend evokeAG 2020.
Jessica’s love of agriculture developed in Year 8, when agriculture became part of her curriculum. She says that she had a fantastic teacher who was very passionate and it was hard to not to catch his enthusiasm.
Jessica continued to study agriculture throughout high school, and later university, completing a Bachelor of Rural Science, with Honours in plant and soil science, at University of New England Armidale. She now works as a horticultural development officer for the NSW Department of Primary Industries, where she follows her passion for research and can share knowledge directly with growers, thereby shaping practices in the industry.
Future career plans for Jessica include working with farmers and producers to help them produce quality food, and working to engage youth in agriculture to support future generations. She also wants to encourage women from rural backgrounds to develop high level careers in agriculture. Currently, women make up 41% of the agricultural workforce, but only 2% are in CEO roles. Jessica wants to help change this, so that women are better represented in the agriculture industry.
Jessica will attend evokeAG to gain access to the best technologies so that she can incorporate them into her future work.